There is no one definition of what it means for research to be impactful. We are sometimes taught to think of impact as about publishing articles in certain journals or having receiving acceptances to certain conferences. However, the core purpose of research isn't to generate citations or acceptances, but to increase knowledge, change practices, and forge meaningful connections both within and outside of academia.

Image of green circle divided into sixths with "Impact Zones" written in the center.

Impact & Academic Communities

Most research seeks as one of its goals to reach experts in similar academic communities to that of its authors. This is the reason that we are traditionally trained to think of publication in scholarly journals as an important activity, with priority going to publishing in journals that are well known, or that have tend to generate more citation counts.

As a graduate student, ask yourself the following questions when considering academic impact:

Which academic communities stand to benefit from my research?
How do I want academic practice or knowledge to change as a result of my research?
How do members of these academic communities look for / find information?
What would evidence of my impact look like in these communities?

The answers to these questions can help you shape everything from your research agenda to where and how you choose to communicate your research. They can also help you identify impact metrics that may be a good match for tracking your research impact over time.

Well-known (if sometimes controversial) examples of academic research metrics include:

Citation counts. The number of a research output (usually an article) is cited by others.
Journal Impact Factor. A journal-level metric invented in the 1950s that suggests the average number of citations that items in a journal receive within a brief window of time.
H-index. An author-level metric invented in 2005 that compares the number of citations generated by a researcher to the number of articles published by the same researcher.

Remember, metrics are not a measure of research quality. What's more, because of their innate simplicity, they can only ever tell a partial story of your research impact. Still, knowing what impact metrics are and how to use them appropriately can help you advocate effectively for yourself as a student, researcher, grant-seeker, or future academic.

Impact & Non-Academic Communities

Most research also has as one of its goals to affect outcomes, practices, knowledge, and resources that exist in communities outside of academia. These non-academic communities can include local residents, specific demographics, research-informed practitioners, or even national and international policy makers.

For graduate students engaged in research with desired impacts outside of academia, it is important to take time to reflect on the how you will build and maintain ethical connections with your targeted community, including after your research is complete.

For example, ask yourself the following questions* when considering community-engaged forms of research.

What community is your research accountable to beyond your academic community?
How will you demonstrate your desire to be accountable to this community? Are there people you can talk to about the impact of your research beyond the IRB (Institutional Review Board)?
How does everyone involved in this project benefit from the research?
What questions does the community want answered?
What compensation can you offer community participants to honor their time and skills?
What would evidence of impact look like in this community?

*These questions were adapted by Dr. Moya Bailey at Northwestern University as a starting place for conducting research in collaboration with community members for heightened impact. For a full list of questions to help guide your own accountability in the research process, see Bailey's article, #transform(ing)DH Writing and Research: An Autoethnography of Digital Humanities and Feminist Ethics.